lbrasel@leagent.net, from the book "History of Otter Tail County" Volume I - 1916 by John W. Mason]

Otter Tail county may well boast of its many beautiful lakes and more than fifteen hundred
have been ennumerated with the limits of the county. There is one township in the county
where the water area actually exceeds the land area and Lida township (township 136,
range 42), while it may not claim distinction on any other score, yet has undisputed
claim to the honor of having the least land area of any township in the county. It was
organized on March 19, 1879, upon the presentation of a petition signed by Stephen A.
Card and others, totaling a majority of the legal voters of the territory in question.
The petitioners asked that the new township be called Lake Lida, but the commissioners
shortened it to Lida. The first election was held at the house of C. A. Rogers on the
fifth of the following month.

Two lakes, Lida and Lizzie, cover more than half of the township, while there are in
addition nearly twenty lakes of smaller size scattered over the township. The whole
township lies in the Pelican river basin; in fact, the Pelican river flows through
Lake Lizzie. The surface of the township is very rugged, especially on the eastern side.

The first store in the township was on the shores of Lake Lida in the northwestern
corner of section 14 and the postoffice which was kept in this store was known by
Uncle Sam as Lida. Another postoffice, called Bessie, was kept at the house of Benson
L. Brown in section 34. It was called Bessie in honor of his wife. Both Lida and Bessie
were discontinued in 1905 when the rural service out of Pelican Rapids was extended
to cover Lida township. Early in the history of the township a steam saw-mill was
put into operation in the extreme southwestern corner of section 11. Another saw-mill
was on the farm of Herman Hostermann on the western side of section 7. At the present
time there is neither a store, mill nor blacksmith shop within the limits of the township.

This township has one of the most unique bridges or causeways in the county if not
in the state. It is built across the narrows of Lake Lida, in sections 32 and 33, and
is at least half a mile in length. The causeway is flanked on either side with large
granite boulders and filled up with dirt and sand to a height of three or four feet
above the level of the lake on either side. The width is only sufficient for one rig
to pass at a time, although it is widened at one place in the middle so that two rigs
might pass each other in case they happened to meet midway. Toward the east end of
this causeway is a steel bridge, which has been erected within the past few years.
Probably the most picturesque road in the county is the one leading round Lake Lida.
One mile of this road on the west side, from Kinney’s Camp to the causeway, is cut out
of the high bluff which rises precipitously from the shores of the lake. As soon as the
lake freezes over, the people drive across it and this is usually done for at least three
months every year.